Bantam

Refer to your best judgement or the FC instructions on jamming targets. The priority displayed here is meant only as a basic guideline for prioritizing targets on a theoretical level, actual field priority may differ depending on the circumstances.

Contents

In YC114 each major empire faction, having been embroiled in a harrowing, extensive, long-term war, recognized the growing need for support and logistics functionality in their vessels during the kind of protracted interstellar warfare that might otherwise prove exhausting for its participants. In the Caldari State, this led to the redesign and redeployment of the Bantam.

The Bantam, a strong and sturdy craft, was originally an extremely effective mining frigate. After its redesign, the Bantam's large structure had to give way for logistics systems that ate up some of its interior room but allowed it to focus extensively on shield support for fellow vessels.

Base Time to Warp is essentially the time needed for this ship to align and accelerate until it reaches 75% of its top speed and goes to warp. The time displayed here is the base calculated time with no account for any warp related skills, modules or any other effects.

Drones

No drone bay.

Drone Capacity

5 m³

Drone Bandwith

5 Mbit/sec

Fighters

Fighter Bay Capacity

0 m³

Fighter Squad Tubes

0

Light Fighter Squad Limit

0

Heavy Fighter Squad Limit

0

Support Fighter Squad Limit

0

Targeting

Max Tgt. Range

40.00 km

Max Locked Targets

7

Gravimetric Sensor

12 points

Sig. Radius

35 m

Scan Res.

850 mm

Structure

Structure Hitpoints

310 HP

Mass

1,480,000 kg

Volume

20,000 m³

Cargo Capacity

270 m³

Capacity

{{{extrahold2type}}} Capacity

0 m³

{{{extrahold3type}}} Capacity

0 m³

{{{extrahold4type}}} Capacity

0 m³

Shields

Shield Capacity

500 HP

Shield Resistances

EM

0

THR

20

KIN

40

EXP

50

Armor

Armor Hitpoints

225 HP

Armor Resistances

EM

50

THR

45

KIN

25

EXP

10

Summary

The Bantam is the Caldari Logistics Frigate; Bantam pilots repair their fleetmates’ ships during battle. The Bantam is bonused for remote shield boosting, which matches the Caldari racial focus on shield tanking. The ship’s bonuses to remote shield booster amount, activation, and range make the underwhelming base stats of small remote shield boosters practically useful. Flying the Bantam is a great first step in learning about Logistics. Bantam pilots often go on train into heavier Tech I logistics cruisers (such as the Caldari Osprey), and then Tech II logistics ships (including the Kirin and Basilisk). But the Bantam is also effective all on its own, especially as a component of frigate or destroyer gangs, where speed is key.

One defining challenge of flying Tech I logistics frigates in general, and the Bantam in particular, is sustaining enough capacitor to run the ship. Remote repair modules are extremely cap-intensive, so the Bantam is typically fit to boost available capacitor—with cap rechargers in mid slots, capacitor control circuit rigs, and, if necessary, “Enduring” remote shield boosters (which consume less cap). Training character skills that increase capacitor will also help. It might seem that fitting the Bantam with an afterburner instead of a microwarpdrive (MWD) could spare some capacitor. But the Bantam needs to keep up with its small-ship fleetmates in order to repair them, so it usually needs an MWD. Pilots fitting the Bantam should use the in-game fitting simulation window, or an out-of-game tool like Pyfa, to match any fit to their specific skills and to gauge the ship’s cap stability. (This also means you may need to swap out modules on any pre-fit Bantam hulls that you purchase on corp contracts, to make them work with your skills.)

Compared to the Minmatar Burst—the other Tech I shield logistics frigate—the Bantam has more tank and more native capacitor, but is quite a bit slower. This makes the Bantam and Burst rough equals, but Omega characters may be asked to cross-train into the Minmatar frigate for specific doctrines.

Watch your capacitor, and activate modules only when needed. As explained above, you may not have enough capacitor to run every module, all the time. When you first land at an engagement, you’ll need to use your MWD to position yourself relative to the fleet. But then, once you are in position, you won’t need your MWD any more. Remember to turn it off!

Likewise, as your fleetmates start to take damage, it’s easy to overreact by activating all three repairers at once. Instead, try to activate them gradually, one by one, to see if you can spare capacitor by running just one or two. And if you need to switch targets—say, because the enemy fleet has changed their primary—again, switch gradually.

Stay moving, behind your fleetmates. One advantage of the Bantam is its small signature radius, which makes the ship difficult to hit. But this is only an advantage if you aren’t sitting still, so always be moving. Given this, you might be tempted to right-click your repair target and “Orbit at…” your optimal range. Keep in mind, though, that this will sometimes send your fragile frigate closer to the enemy than the damage dealers. Better, instead, to manually fly in a ring orbit behind the fleet, so that you keep range and stay out of the action.

Notes

While both Caldari logistics cruisers—the Osprey and the Basilisk—are designed to fly as part of a cap chain, the Bantam frigate is designed to be self-sufficient when it comes to capacitor usage.